Chopin 2025: I gave my all to performance, says Piotr Pawlak
Polish pianist Piotr Pawlak said after playing in the second stage of the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw on Saturday that he was happy with his performance because he gave it his all.
The Polish pianist's concert ended with a standing ovation. In a rare occurrence, the audience gathered in the National Philharmonic concert hall began applauding while the pianist was still playing.
Talking later to reporters, Pawlak said: "You can always play better, but knowing myself and my way of presentation, I know I gave it my all."
He added that the huge applause from the audience made him happy.
"I also felt immense joy and relief ... once it was clear who had advanced to the second stage. I had broken through the ceiling, after all, I had competed in the Chopin Competition twice and been eliminated," Pawlak said.
He said that he had dreamt about taking part in the competition since he was a child.
"It's quite easy to participate because there's no need for the complex logistics of travelling to competitions abroad. Besides, I got in this time without going through the qualifying rounds," he said. "And even if you don't advance to the next rounds in this competition, participating in it alone is a significant, decisive step in your career."
At the end of his performance, Pawlak played Allegro de concert in A major, Op. 46, a rarely performed and little-known piece.
"Perhaps a large portion of the audience heard this piece for the first time. It was actually an unfinished composition by Chopin; the composer wasn't getting anywhere with it, constantly interrupting it, and ultimately only publishing the first movement," he said.
"However, there are strangely beautiful and original solutions hidden within this piece that strongly capture my imagination, and moreover, the Allegro expresses my personality. So I took a risk by playing it at the end of the performance," Pawlak added.
Asked about extra-musical activities and sports, he said that he spends a week skiing in winter and a week cycling in summer.
"This summer, it didn't work out for obvious reasons. I was preparing for the competition," Pawlak said.
Born in 1998, Pawlak is a graduate of the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk and currently studies at the International Piano Academy Lake Como in Italy. He has won numerous international competitions, including the 5th International Maj Lind Piano Competition in Helsinki and the 11th International Chopin Piano Competition in Darmstadt. He is a laureate of the International Chopin Competitions in Beijing (2016), Budapest (2018), and Krakow (2019), the International Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2022), and the International Chopin Competition on period instruments in Warsaw (2023).
He has performed in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Russia, Georgia, and most European countries. As a soloist, he has appeared with numerous orchestras and at numerous music festivals, such as the Kissinger Sommer in Bad Kissingen, Germany and "Chopin and His Europe" in Warsaw.
The 19th edition of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, which runs from October 2 to October 23, is organised by Poland's Fryderyk Chopin Institute. (PAP)
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